Oak Harbor man accused of raping minor

Brenden Thomas Jensen, 55, was charged April 1 with two counts of rape of a child and other counts.

An Oak Harbor man is accused of raping a minor after police discovered sexually explicit messages from him on her phone, according to court documents.

Brenden Thomas Jensen, 55, was charged in Island County Superior Court April 1 with two counts of rape of a child in the third degree, child molestation in the third degree, possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

Jensen’s jail bond was set at $100,000.

Jensen’s caretaker reported to the Island County Sheriff’s Office in December 2021 that a few months prior, she walked into a room to find the minor sitting in front of Jensen, according to a police report. When the caretaker entered the room, the minor moved away, and Jensen was tugging at his pants, the report states.

Then, in December, the caretaker saw sexually explicit chat messages between Jensen and the minor, according to the report. She then told police about what she had seen, and said she believed Jensen was having inappropriate relations with the girl, who is 15 years old.

Island County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Robert Mirabal, one of the officers who investigated the incident, stated in his report that he visited the minor and her mother and received permission to look through the girl’s phone. He found a long string of sexually explicit chat messages from Jensen, including requests from Jensen to see the girl’s naked body, the report states.

According to the report, Jensen and the girl had spoken via video chat over 140 times.

The report also shows sexually explicit messages from the minor to Jensen. She told police in an interview that she did not want to send those messages but feared Jensen would become angry with her, Mirabal’s report states. She also told police that on at least two occasions, Jensen touched her inappropriately when she was at his home, the report states.

After obtaining a search warrant, Mirabal found photos of the girl with her breasts displayed on Jensen’s phone, he stated in his report.